Wow the art design on this game is really good. Great work. The music and sound is pleasant too. I found the combat too hostile to make it very far though. Since you're already aware of the combat issues, I'll comment on a couple other things that I think might help improve the game:
1. I think the game deserves a better intro/tutorial section. Don't introduce all the controls at once in a big scroll, and give the player some easy enemies to fight.
2. The first time I played I thought there was a bug that made it unplayable because I couldn't figure out how to get out of messages. As someone else mentioned, escape is inconvenient and unorthodox for browser play.